Local area networks (e.g., intranets and other local networks) commonly require some level of security to prevent data access by unauthorized people. Such unauthorized people often are referred to as “hackers.” Absent some security measure, a hacker can access a local area network without permission by the administrator of the network. For example, a hacker can illicitly copy secret data from such a network, or reconfigure such a network to malfunction.
Various security measures often are taken to prevent access by a hacker. Among those measures is use of a “firewall.” As known in the art, a firewall is a hardware and/or software device that controls access to a given network. For example, a firewall may intercept all data received from a larger network (e.g., the Internet), and determine which data can pass through it to the network that it is protecting. Data access can be permitted based upon a variety of preconfigured policies, such as the type of transport protocol used by received data, or the origin of the data. A firewall thus acts as a filter to prevent unauthorized data from being transmitted to and/or being removed from its protected network.
Although useful in many instances, the security provided by a firewall can be breached. In such case, all computer systems in such protected networks consequently can be susceptible to being accessed and/or tampered with by a hacker.